Ulmus americana 'Pendula'
| Ulmus americana 'Pendula' | |
|---|---|
| Species | Ulmus americana |
| Cultivar | 'Pendula' |
| Origin | England |
The American elm cultivar Ulmus americana 'Pendula' was originally listed by William Aiton in Hort. Kew, 1: 320, 1789, as U. americana var. pendula, cloned in England in 1752 by James Gordon.[1][2] From the 1880s the Späth nursery of Berlin supplied a cultivar at first listed as Ulmus fulva (Michx.) pendula Hort.,[3][4] which in their 1899 catalogue was queried as a possible variety of U. americana,[5] and which thereafter appeared in their early 20th-century catalogues as U. americana pendula (formerly Ulmus fulva (Michx.) pendula Hort.).[6][7][8] The Scampston Elm, Ulmus × hollandica 'Scampstoniensis', in cultivation on both sides of the Atlantic in the 19th and 20th centuries, was occasionally referred to as 'American Weeping Elm' or Ulmus americana pendula.[9][10] This cultivar, however, was distinguished by Späth from his Ulmus americana pendula.
'Pendula' was considered probably just a forma by Green, who stated that it was later confused with a pendulous variant of an Ulmus glabra (see 'Synonymy').[2] At least one US nursery, however, stocked a clone. From 1932 to 1934 Plumfield Nurseries of Fremont, Nebraska, marketed, alongside the pyramidal Ulmus americana 'Moline' and the non-pendulous Ulmus americana 'Vase', an 'American Weeping Elm', "a weeping form of American elm, with long drooping branches".[11][12][13]
Description
[edit]The tree was described as vase-shaped with branches pendulous at their extremities.[2]
Cultivation
[edit]
The U. americana pendula planted at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, in 1889 may have been Späth's mis-named Ulmus fulva (Mchx) pendula, later corrected in arboretum lists, since Späth supplied many of the 1880s' and 1890s' elms there.[14] Specimens from Späth were in cultivation in Europe, as Ulmus fulva (Mchx) pendula in the late 19th century, and as U. americana pendula in the 20th, to the 1930s.[15] Henry (1913) described two at Kew obtained from Späth in 1896, considering them "probably not" Ulmus americana 'Beebe's Weeping', an 1889 cultivar which had at first also been mis-called Ulmus fulva (Mchx) pendula.[16] 'Pendula' is known to have been cultivated in the UK (most recently in Ayrshire[17]) and the Netherlands; no surviving trees have been confirmed (2016).
A striking low, horizontal-spreading American elm in Morton Arboretum, Illinois (near the main road to the east side), said by the Arboretum not to be 'Beebe's', is labelled as a forma, Ulmus americana f. pendula, reportedly cloned in 1970 from a weeping American elm growing in front of Plymouth Congregational Church, Plainfield, Illinois (see 'Accessions').
A clone cultivated in China as Ulmus americana 'Pendula', top-grafted on Ulmus pumila stock, is neither Ulmus americana nor Scampston elm (formerly mis-named Ulmus americana 'Pendula'), but, in the case of the majority of photographs on the Plant Photo Bank of China, a weeping form of U. glabra Huds., probably 'Camperdownii'.[18][19]
Hybrid cultivars
[edit]'Pendula' was used in the Dutch elm breeding programme before World War II, but none of the progeny were of particular note and are not known to have been cultivated [20]
Synonymy
[edit]- Ulmus americana var. glabra: Walpers, Ann. Bot. Syst. 3: 424, 1852.
- Ulmus fulva (Mchx) pendula Hort., Späth in error, 1880s to 1899 (see above)
Accessions
[edit]North America
[edit]- Morton Arboretum, Illinois, US; acc. no. 678-70; as Ulmus americana f. pendula
References
[edit]- ^ Aiton, William (1789). "Ulmus". Hortus Kewensis. 1: 320.
- ^ a b c Green, Peter Shaw (1964). "Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus". Arnoldia. 24 (6–8). Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University: 41–80. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
- ^ Späth, L., Catalogue 79 (1890-91; Berlin), p.114
- ^ Späth, L., Catalogue 89 (1892-93; Berlin), p.116
- ^ Späth, L., Catalogue 104 (1899–1900; Berlin), p.134
- ^ Katalog (PDF). Vol. 108. Berlin, Germany: L. Späth Baumschulenweg. 1902–1903. pp. 132–133.
- ^ Späth nursery, Catalogue 143, p. 135, 1910–11. Berlin, Germany.
- ^ Späth, L., Catalogue 130 (1908-09; Berlin), p.135
- ^ Winchelsea, C.C. (1910). "Weeping trees". The Gardeners' Magazine. 53: 501.
- ^ Anthony waterer's catalogue. 1880. p. 20.
- ^ Plumfield Nurseries, Fremont, Nebraska, Fall 1932 wholesale trade list, p13
- ^ Plumfield Nurseries, Fremont, Nebraska, Fall 1933 wholesale trade list, p16
- ^ Plumfield Nurseries, Fremont, Nebraska, Wholesale trade list for nurserymen, florists and dealers : February 10, 1934; p12
- ^ Saunders, William; Macoun, William Tyrrell (1899). Catalogue of the trees and shrubs in the arboretum and botanic gardens at the central experimental farm (2 ed.). pp. 74–75.
- ^ Späth, L., Catalogue 262 (1930-31; Berlin), p.34
- ^ Elwes, Henry John; Henry, Augustine (1913). The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. 7. pp. 1855–1859.
- ^ Recorded by Alan Mitchell for Tree Register records in 1989
- ^ Label of cultivar in China mis-named Ulmus americana 'Pendula', Plant Photo Bank of China; ppbc.iplant.cn
- ^ Cultivar in China mis-named Ulmus americana 'Pendula' (excepting first four photographs), Plant Photo Bank of China; ppbc.iplant.cn
- ^ Went, J. C. (1954). The Dutch elm disease - Summary of 15 years' hybridisation and selection work (1937-1952). European Journal of Plant Pathology, Vol 60, 2, March 1954.